How to Build a Catacombs Beneath a Basement

Building catacombs beneath your basement requires a great deal of forethought and soul searching. Undertaking a project like this necessitates looking toward the future for you and your family in the coming generations. It's not a light subject to ponder, and one that should come about after thorough research and a period for proper development.

Things You'll Need

• Wheelbarrow
• Hammer drill
• Allsaw
• Shovel
• Two by fours
• Metal sheets

Instructions

1. Check the legal issues concerning building an underground sacred area, let alone under your basement. Digging diagonally from the surface toward the basement needs to be done in order to assess the area beneath the basement.

2. Grasp a strong understanding of the building codes. Realize that not many homeowners strike out on a venture like this and quite possibly you need to work with city or county officials (depending where you live) on a new code for building catacombs beneath a basement.

3. Hire a designer, engineer or an architect to design your catacombs. Keep in mind that labyrinths and catacombs size requirements average ten feet and seven feet, respectively.

4. Try to meet all the precautions before starting to dig while realizing that you need to remove quite a few cubic yards of soil. Transporting the soil through the home seems unnecessary and messy. The slope along side the home requires the use of a wheel barrow.

5. Consider establishing some sort of shoring to prevent dirt sliding back down into the tunnel to your catacombs. Depending on your design and measurements, lumber or steel plates and beams with corrugated sheet metal positioned horizontally along the ceiling works best. The spacing of shoring again depends on the design or on the type of earth around your home. Standard operating basics ask for a stable three to five feet open tunnel in firm soil and two by four posts 18 inches apart, every other side.

6. Stabilize the tunnel floor and continue at the level and distance allowed for your home structure. Make sure you shore while you burrow. Dig niches in the walls for each catacomb. Installing lights or torches and masonry walls makes a nice touch, if you desire.

7. Cut an entrance in your basement to your sacred place by determining the proper location to come and go from the catacombs. Your hired engineer needs to observe the area and measurements according to the basement floor and structure of the house.

8. Drill the concrete floor using a rotary hammer-drill establishing a probe hole. Then use an Allsaw machine to cut a large hole in the basement floor for access to your sanctuary. Remove all debris piece by piece and as carefully as possible. Now,stabilize the entrance to the catacombs and clear any remaining debris.

Tips & Warnings

• Be wary of underground utility wires and pipelines. Be smart and check with the city or county before you dig.

• Rain delays projects like these and a sump pump needs to be available just in case it rains to prevent flooding.

• Set a date for an opening of your catacomb party for close friends and family members. It's time to celebrate for all your hard work and dedication.

• Building a catacomb underneath your basement takes a lot of brawn, yet you must remember how sacred a project like this is.